Hello everyone! Sorry it’s been a while since I posted a blog. Oddly enough I’ve found that the months where I have Internet access, I blog the least. It was easier to blog in Africa because when you don’t have wifi, you feel the need to prepare a bunch of blogs. The moment that you do get wifi, your sole mission is getting them to upload. Surrounded by the constant access and stimulus of wifi, there’s not as much pressure to get one done because you know it’s there. Anyway, my sincerest apologies…
So what the heck am I doing in Malaysia? This question serves two purposes: 1) what are the actual activities/ministries that I’ve been participating in? And 2) this month has been extremely difficult and I have been asking myself what am I doing here?
1) Desa Amal Jireh
This month we have been living on and working at the Desa Amal Jireh compound (see http://www.daj.org.my/ ). Here we’ve been split up into groups. In the morning we all attend the chapel and then split off to our respective jobs. Some days we do manual labor (some of my team helped to pull a tree down onto a building…oops.). Most days Rae and I have been working in the office. While this doesn’t seem like your standard missions work, it’s been an interesting task. The center provides for 100+ children, 20+ senior citizens and the staff who work here. Providing for that many people takes some support. Every 2 years, the center puts out 22,000 newsletters to all of its supporters! Rae and I have been labeling envelopes for those newsletters. If we were not able to do it, some of the children would have to sacrifice studying time to fill in. My other teammates have been helping with the Charity Bazar, a second-hand shop used to bring in additional donations for the center. They are sorting hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of clothing and other various donations to be sold at the Bazar! In the evening, we hold devotion for the girls. My age range is 14-17. It’s been an awesome experience to hear the questions that these girls have about God and about life.
2) The Struggle.
This month has been rough. For some reasons that I can’t go into for the privacy of our ministry contact, this month has been very challenging. One of the cultures that I’ve struggled the most with in Asia was India. Malaysia has a huge Indian influence yet they are one of the most ethnically oppressed groups. That being said it makes sense that we are working with a lot of people of Indian descent this month. Re-entering a culture that left a bad taste in my mouth has called for a lot of grace and patience. There have been times this month that I’ve wanted to quit. There are still a couple days of ministry yet so I’m praying for my outlook on this place to be redeemed.
Love, Katie
